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Three Skills Learned Through Improv That Enhance Collaboration In Teams

Forbes Coaches Council

Wendy Hanson is an executive coach, podcaster and the co-founder and chief program officer at BetterManager.

As an executive coach with decades of experience helping people thrive at work, I believe leaders can do themselves a favor by tapping into the power of improv. I know it sounds funny — and that’s kind of the point. Improv is mostly known as a comedic tool or style of delivery à la Chicago’s The Second City or TV shows like Whose Line Is It Anyway? It’s true that improv can be riotously funny, but it relies heavily on one skill of a more serious nature: the practice of staying present, or mindfulness.

Psychology Today defines mindfulness as “a state of active, open attention to the present,” which is harder than it sounds. Popular ways of cultivating mindfulness include various forms of meditation and yoga — practices that help you notice and feel things in a non-judgmental way (as opposed to critically analyzing them).

I’ve been teaching improv to enhance the way teams function for decades. And, here’s why/how it works. Based on my experience, successful teamwork requires three proficiencies that improv can help one to develop: receptivity, vulnerability and team-building. 

The first rule of improv is “Yes, and...” or, in other words, no shooting down other people’s ideas. The skit only progresses if everyone works together to develop the plotline. How many times have you been in a meeting and had someone shoot down your idea before you can even explain yourself? Imagine if you were at an improv show and the troupe members kept bashing each other’s ideas instead of elaborating on them. The show would devolve into a long, indecisive argument with an audience watching. Whether on a stage or in a boardroom, this is a big-time no-no. 

This isn’t to say that we should simply act on everything that comes out of each other’s mouths. In a professional setting, it means staying authentically open-minded to new ideas and directions. In the words of former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, “The characteristic of great innovators and great companies is that they see a space that others do not. They don’t just listen to what people tell them, they actually invent something new, something you didn’t know you needed, but the moment you see it you say, I must have it.” This is the kind of open-mindedness and receptivity to new ideas that improv can help develop. Staying wedded to the way things have always been done might yield steady profit margins, but it won’t change the world (or the company) in any meaningful way. In a work setting, you can (and should) say no to things, but at least take the time to consider an idea’s merits before tossing it out completely.

The second teamwork proficiency improv can help develop is vulnerability. You’re probably asking, “Is vulnerability really a skill?” As someone who’s spent decades as a coach studying and developing people’s emotional intelligence, I say yes, absolutely. Although it’s not often talked about as a skill, vulnerability takes practice. It takes knowing your idea or suggestion may not be accepted by all and being willing to offer it up anyway, regardless of the consequences. In her book, Bossypants, comedy queen Tina Fey, who trained at The Second City, writes about the futility of beating yourself up over mistakes. She suggests that before taking a risk, you should ask yourself "What's the worst that could happen?" Our first instinct is usually to catastrophize the potential outcome, but an honest assessment will reveal the truth: The consequences of failure are far less severe than the anxiety you're inflicting upon yourself. As the saying goes, if you don't try, you're guaranteed to fail.

When I use improv as a coaching tool, many people are either terrified or reluctant to try it. They don’t see its value because they have no experience with it or they’re scared they’ll look stupid while doing it (or both). To be skilled at improv, one must accept the possibility that a joke or suggestion won’t land well. If it doesn’t, that’s OK! Move on from it, and stay present. If you allow yourself to become bogged down by fear or regret, your recovery time will be slower and who knows how many of your own good ideas you’ll have smothered in the process? 

One of the essential elements of true collaboration is reciprocity, and it requires mutuality in how both sides give and receive resources, whether they’re material or symbolic. If fear is allowed to interfere with that process, the collaboration can become one-sided, resulting in a relationship with unequal power and unfulfilled potential. It can take years of practice to allow yourself to be vulnerable in both personal and professional settings, especially if you’ve been stung in the past, but I can assure you the results are worth it. 

There are endless potential team-building exercises one could engage in, but improv is probably one of the most effective I’ve encountered. Why? Because of how it reframes new ideas as good until proven otherwise. Often, workplace environments are unnecessarily competitive. Whether it stems from a personal drive or organizational culture, being overly competitive at work can create unnecessary conflict and derail collaborative processes. One of improv’s rules is to make your team members look good, which reverses the usual incentive structure we’re used to at work. Whereas you may normally work hard to set yourself apart from the team, improv forces you to work with and through others to build upon their ideas. Since the first rule of improv is “Yes, and...,” you’ve got no choice but to accept what’s been presented and try to make it better. In my experience, this reversal can help reprogram people to become more team-oriented in everyday situations. 

Thinking on the fly, developing your team’s capacity and being responsive to changing conditions are things required of all leaders, particularly in the age of Covid-19. If you’re struggling to find ways to become more adaptive, collaborative and team-oriented, improv may be the quickest way to teach an old dog new tricks. To start, check out this simple mirroring exercise, one I use often to get teams started using improv to enhance collaboration.


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